Canadians vote approximately every 4 years for the federal election when a party has a majority government or every 2 years for a minority government. An election must be called within 5 years of a party taking power. The party that wins over half the seats plus one forms the majority government; if no party wins a majority, the party with the most seats forms a minority government. The document then provides several scenarios of seat distributions after elections and identifies whether each would result in a majority or minority government.
2. Every Canadian gets 1 vote in the federal election which occurs about every 4 years when the ruling party has a majority and about every 2 years when the ruling party has a minority. An election must be called within five years of a party coming to power. This period is called an election term .
6. The Distribution of Seats Determines the Gov’t: 143 Conservative 36 NDP 77 Liberal 48 Bloc Québécois 1 Independent Speaker Last election: October, 2008 There are currently 308 seats in the Commons: Why would there be 7 new seats since 2001? 3 vacant seats
